“A  BURNING  QUESTION. 


99 


W.  T.  HARRIS,  PH.  D.,  LL.  D. 


POLYGAMY  AND  CITIZENSHIP  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

By  Dr.  SAMUEL  SPAHR  LAWS. 


227  Pages,  Octavo.  Price,  $1 .00,  Postage  Prepaid. 

For  Sale  by  Woodward  &  Lothrop,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  by 
the  Presbyterian  Committee  of  Publication,  Richmond,  Va. 


NOTICES  AND  TESTIMONIALS. 

1.  The  Baltimore  American. — “The  three  main  features 
of  the  discussion  in  this  volume  are :  ( 1 )  The  relation  of  the 
subject  to  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  (2) 
to  the  Bible  and  the  primitive  church;  and  (3)  to  the  latest 
evolutionary  history  of  the  family.  The  author  claims  that 
the  positive  teaching  of  the  Bible  is  that  the  conjugal  relation 
was  originally  ordained  by  God  at  man’s  creation  between 
two — one  man  and  one  woman.  Also  that  the  Saviour  did 
not  claim  to  institute  a  new  ordinance,  but  reaffirmed  the 
original  ordinance  of  monogamy  as  still  in  force,  and  as  the 
law  of  his  kingdom.” 

2.  Dr.  F.  J.  Brooke,  Romney,  W.  Va. — “You  have  cer¬ 
tainly  done  a  good  work  for  the  Truth,  the  Church,  the  For- 


2 


eign  Mission  cause  of  all  churches,  and  for  Humanity,  and 
God  will  surely  bless  it,  whether  we  ever  accomplish  the  im¬ 
mediate  purpose  in  hand  or  not,  i.  e.}  extirpating  the  sin 
[of  polygamy]  from  our  own  missions.” 

3.  Dr.  David  Wills,  Jr.,  Oswego,  N.  Y. — “In  Polygamy 
and  Citizenship  in  Church  and  State  you  have  written  wisely 
on  a  timely  theme.  Your  vigorous  defense  of  the  Biblical 
idea  of  personal  and  church  purity  cannot  fail  to  be  pro¬ 
ductive  of  great  good.  All  who  love  righteousness  and  truth 
must  be  grateful  to  you  for  your  devout  and  scholarly  work.” 

4.  Dr.  Robert  P.  Kerr,  Baltimore,  Md. — “I  thank  you 
for  sending  me  your  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  subject  of 
Polygamy.  Your  argument  is  unanswerable.  I  do  not  see 
how  any  man  can  advocate  the  reception  of  a  polygamous 
convert  (?)  into  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  laws  of 
Christ  are  for  all  races,  all  ages,  all  conditions,  and  admit  of 
no  exceptions  nor  temporary  suspension.  It  would  be  just 
as  logical  to  say  that  converts  might  be  allowed  for  a  while 
to  commit  theft  or  murder. 

“Surely  this  is  no  time  to  abate  the  rigor  of  the  law  of 
marriage,  when  progressive  polygamy  has  become  so  com¬ 
mon  in  our  country  as  to  threaten  the  permanence  of  our 
institutions. 

“I  hope  the  General  Assembly  will  speak  in  no  uncertain 
way.” 

5.  Dr.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  Washington,  D.  C. — “I  have 
read  with  great  interest  your  Polygamy  and  Citizenship.  It 
is  true.  It  is  masterlv.  It  is  unanswerable.  A7ou  have  ren- 

t j 

dered  a  great  service  by  such  a  clear  and  comprehensive 


3 


statement  of  the  subject  and  by  your  calm  and  irrefutable 
argument.  I  can  very  well  understand  how  a  missionary 
may  be  tempted  to  expediencies  in  some  individual  case,  but 
I  cannot  understand  how  a  church  court  could  hesitate  or 
evade  when  the  case  was  so  strongly  presented.  We  northern 
Presbyterians  are  supposed  to  be  ‘worldly/  and  ‘secular/  and 
‘purely  ethical/*  but  we  have  a  better  record  on  this  subject 
than  our  spiritual  brethren  of  the  South.  I  congratulate 
you  upon  a  fine  piece  of  work  and  a  stalwart  conscience.” 

6.  Dr.  B.  F.  Bittinger,  Washington,  D.  C. — “I  grate¬ 
fully  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  Polygamy  and  Citizen¬ 
ship,  and  although  I  have  not  read  it  carefully,  I  have  read 
sufficient  of  it  to  convince  me  that  your  argument  from  the 

J  o 

*  .  .  i 

scriptures,  by  which  you  fortify  your  contention,  seems  to 
be  conclusive.  IIow  far  expediency  enters  into  the  question 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  The  question  itself  is  a  difficult 
and  troublesome  one,  and  for  adjudication  requires  great  tact, 
tenderness,  and  wisdom. 

“Your  argument  itself,  however,  is  hard  to  refute.” 

7.  Dr.  M.  B.  Riddle,  professor  in  Allegheny  Theological 
Seminary  and  a  member  of  the  Bible  Revision  Committee. 
His  attention  was  called  to  this  treatise  by  a  mutual  friend, 
who  is  a  Presbvterian,  a  Yale  alumnus  and  LL.D.,  and  a  well 
known  government  official,  to  whom  Professor  Riddle  wrote : 
“You  can  tell  him  [the  author]  from  me,  that  he  seems  to 
be  right  in  his  contention,  and  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
(South)  does  not  appear  to  advantage  in  the  controversy  and 
in  its  deliverances.” 

This  mutual  friend  writes  the  author:  “I  have  read  nearly 
all  your  book,  and  much  of  it  out  loud  to  Mrs.  W.  [a  South- 


4 


ern  lady] .  There  is  but  one  side  to  your  question,  and  I  am 
ashamed  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church.” 

A  colonel  in  the  regular  army,  a  Kentuckian,  says  that  he 
and  his  wife  have  read  it  together  with  great  interest.  It  is 
profitable  and  novel  reading  for  all  in  the  conjugal  relation, 
as  well  as  for  the  unmarried. 

8.  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris,  for  nearly  twenty  years  Commis¬ 
sioner  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education. — “My  dear 
Dr.  Laws,  I  beg  to  acknowledge  a  copy  of  the  ‘Polygamy  and 
Citizenship  in  Church  and  State,’  which  came  duly  from  you, 
and  according  to  promise.  I  am  always  glad  to  have  any 
monograph  from  your  hand.  I  am  particularly  glad  to  have 
this  discussion  of  a  burning  question.” 

9.  Rev.  Dr.  David  Wills,  Sr.,  now  a  retired  chaplain  of 
the  regular  U.  S.  Army,  but  long  a  resident  of  the  South 
and  minister  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church,  a  grad¬ 
uate  of  Columbia  Theological  Seminary,  South  Carolina,  co¬ 
pastor  of  Dr.  Smythe,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  at  one  time 
president  of  Oglethorpe  University f  Georgia.  This  devoted 
friend  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  took  such  in¬ 
terest,  in  this  discussion  that  he  read  it  in  the  proof  whilst  it 
was  going  through  the  press,  and  encouraged  the  author  with 
his  cordial  and  unqualified  approval.  No  one  was  more  sur¬ 
prised  than  he  at  the  disposition  of  the  subject  by  the  General 
Assembly  and  the  Synod  of  Virginia.  One  of  the  most 
notable  foreign  missionary  conventions  of  the  year  meets 
annually  at  Clifton  Springs,  N.  Y.,  in  June,  and  enjoys  the 
generous  hospitality  of  that  Sanitarium.  Dr.  Wills  was 
present  at  that  convention,  June,  1906,  and  assisted  Dr.  Mai- 


5 


colm  in  distributing  among  the  missionaries  a  package  of  the 
book  which  had  been  shipped  there  for  that  purpose.  Dr. 
Wills  writes:  “All  were  glad  to  receive  them  [the  books],  and 
have  unanimously  agreed,  so  far  as  I  could  ascertain,  that 
polygamists  cannot  be  admitted  to  church  membership  any¬ 
where  without  abandoning  all  but  one  wife,  and  she  the  one 
first  married. 

“Dr.  Hunter  Corbett,  the  (Missionary)  Moderator  of  the 
Northern  General  Assembly  (1906)  read  your  book.  We 
spent  an  hour  on  Sunday  afternoon  in  discussing  the  subject 
of  polygamy  in  heathen  lands.  He  says  you  are  on  the  right 
line,  and  that  the  church  will  come  to  your  ground  sooner  or 
later,  and  that,  therefore,  your  valuable  work  will  tell  effect¬ 
ively  on  the  future  missions  of  the  church. 

“I  herewith  inclose  the  testimonies  I  gathered  from  the 
missionaries  in  India,  China,  Japan,  and  one  from  Bishop 
Pennick,  of  the  Diocese  of  Virginia,  who  has  charge  of  his 
church  missions  in  Africa.  You  are  powerfully  supported 
in  your  views  by  the  leading  missionaries  from  one  end  of 

the  heathen  world  to  the  other.1’  Inclosed  were  five  cards 

« 

with  six  names,  concisely  expressing  decided  views,  and  not 
a  discordant  note  was  heard.  It  was  regretted  that  more 
books  were  not  sent,  as  they  were  eagerly  sought  after.  A 
thousand  copies  were  printed,  but  they  are  diminishing,  and 
persons  wTrite  the  author,  not  knowing  where  they  can  be 
obtained. 

10.  As  illustrating  the  reformatory  power  of  the  truth,  the 
following  incident  may  be  given.  It  is  contained  in  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Brooke  to  the  author,  in  a  letter  dated  June  29th, 
1906:  “Let  me  congratulate  you  upon  the  first  fruit  of  the 


6 


polygamy  overture.  The  Kassai  Herald ,  published  by  our 
African  Mission  at  Luebo,  for  April,  1906,  has  this : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  missionaries,  March  1 — 6,  1906 :  “The  re¬ 
ports  as  rendered  from  the  field  were  of  the  most  encouraging 
kind,  yet  there  was  a  recognition  on  the  part  of  all  present 
that  the  goal  of  our  hopes  had  not  been  fully  attained.  No¬ 
where  was  the  truth  of  this  assertion  more  fully  seen  than 
in  the  earnest,  prayerful  consideration  over  the  subjects  of 

i 

Polygamy  and  Self-support.  Against  the  former  the  door  of 
church  membership  was  closed ,  while  the  latter  had  plans 
and  methods  set  in  operation  looking  toward  a  fuller  realiza¬ 
tion  of  that  ideal.” 

11.  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Chalmers  Easton,  pastor  of  East¬ 
ern  Presbyterian  Church,  Washington,  D.  C. — “Rev.  and 
Beloved  Brother:  I  have  read  over  carefully  your  able  con¬ 
troversial  pamphlet,  entitled  Holy  gamy  and  Citizenship,’  and 
must  say  your  position  is  unassailable,  scriptural,  and  will 
stand  the  severest  criticism. 

“Years  from  now,  not  many,  all  churches  and  ministers 
must  stand  upon  the  rock  foundation  where  your  able  book 
would  have  them  placed.  Divorce  legislation,  marriage  laws, 
and  other  matters  pertaining  to  the  family,  need  revision  the 
world  over. 

“Thanks  for  your  noble  contribution  to  the  literature  on 
this  most  important  and  living  question  of  the  day.” 

12.  The  Central  Presbyterian. — This  is  one  of  our 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  papers  that  has  spoken  out  in 
advocacy  of  the  General  Assembly  making  a  deliverance  on 
the  subject  of  polygamy  in  accordance  with  the  constitution 
of  the  church  touching  morals  and  personal  righteousness. 


7 


May  16,  1906:  ‘‘A  volume  of  more  than  two  hundred 
pages,  entitled  ‘Polygamy  and  Citizenship  in  Church  and 
State/  by  Dr.  Samuel  Spahr  Laws,  is  before  us.  It  is  prob¬ 
ably  the  most  complete  discussion  of  the  subject  that  has  ever 
been  published.  I)r.  Laws’  extensive  and  varied  learning, 
and  his  familiarity  with  sources  of  information,  eminently 
qualify  him  for  the  task  that  he  has  accomplished.  The 
discussion  bears  upon  an  overture  on  this  subject  that  goes 
before  the  Assembly  in  session  at  Greenville.  There  seems 
to  be  no  substantial  reason  why  the  Assembly  should  not  dis¬ 
tinctly  declare  that  in  the  reception  of  communicants  into  the 
church  in  foreign  fields  the  standards  of  the  church  upon  all 
questions  of  morals  shall  be  respected  and  enforced;  or  else 
refer  the  entire  subject  to  an  ad  interim  committee  instructed 
to  prepare  a  formal  paper  for  final  consideration  and  adop¬ 
tion.” 


Rev.  Dr.  E.  M.  Green ,  Danville ,  Ky.,  Moderator  of  the  South¬ 
ern  General  Assembly ,  1898,  and  Chairman  of  Commission 
on  Polygamy,  1906: 

“  *  *  Your  vast  labor  in  connection  with  this  matter  has 

not  been  wasted.  You  have  given  us  an  exhaustive  discussion 
of  the  subject  which  is  learned  and  valuable,  and  your  end. 
has.  probably  been  accomplished,  though  the  complaint  was 
not  sustained.  *  *  *  Am  thankful  that  you  have  been 

spared  to  do  such  vigorous  work  for  the  church 


